Asian upside-down catfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The Asian upside-down catfish is a striking oddball, but it is a predator that will eat small tankmates, so pair it only with fish too big to swallow. It can be territorial and is usually kept singly, spending the day tucked under wood and hanging inverted. Feed frozen and live meaty foods, earthworms, and sinking pellets after dark. Give it a tank of at least 190 liters with heavy wood cover.

In the wild

This bagrid comes from the rivers of Myanmar, where it shelters in wood, roots, and shady overhangs and comes out to hunt at night. It has the unusual habit of resting and swimming inverted, often hanging belly-up beneath driftwood. Give it a dim tank with plenty of wood and cave cover, gentle to moderate flow, and soft to neutral water at 22 to 26 degrees C.

Good to know

Mystus leucophasis reaches about 30 cm and is one of the few Asian catfish, rather than the African Synodontis, that habitually swims upside down. It is a predatory bagrid with a large mouth and long barbels. Breeding is not recorded in aquariums.

Did you know

It looks a lot like an African Synodontis and shares their belly-up habit, but it is actually an Asian bagrid from Myanmar that happened to evolve the same upside-down trick.

Related species

• 

  Striped mystus

  Mystus vittatus

  8.3 in (21 cm)60 gal (227 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Two-spot catfish

  Mystus bimaculatus

  4.7 in (12 cm)30 gal (114 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
• Black lancer catfish

  Bagrichthys macracanthus

  9.1 in (23 cm)55 gal (210 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Harlequin lancer catfish

  Bagroides melapterus

  11.8 in (30 cm)120 gal (455 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Asian bumblebee catfish

  Pseudomystus siamensis

  5.9 in (15 cm)30 gal (115 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
• Redtail bagrid

  Hemibagrus nemurus

  25.6 in (65 cm)185 gal (700 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)